I Solemnly Swear That I'm Not In Love
by ouchmylightningscar
Summary: The new year has passed and the students are about to enter the year 1977. With the war reaching it's peak how will the students of Hogwarts handle the rising tension between classmates. A Jily fanfic with a smudge of Blackinnon. Rated M for language, alcohol and potential sex in later chapters
1. Chapter 1:New Year

_A/N This is a James/Lily fic with some Marlene/Sirius Pairing. I'm writing this for my own enjoyment and hope that you all like it too! Disclaimer:Characters belong to the Harry Potter Franchise._

It was by some miracle that Lily Evans found herself staring into a floor length mirror in one of the McKinnons many bathrooms. The reflection she was presented with showed her standing in a stupidly expensive set of emerald robes, with a plunge down the front that was just revealing enough to let anyone who knew her well know that these robes were clearly borrowed from a friend. Said friend was of course the annoyance that had practically begged Lily to come with her to the party tonight, using one or two blackmailing techniques in the process. Marlene was giving a knowing smirk in the background of the reflection as she caught Lily admiring herself, not that Lily would ever admit to it. Leaning in closer to the mirror she tucked a stray strand of auburn hair back into the elegant up do that Marlene had spent a good half an hour and a fair amount of grumbling about lack of magic, trying to perfect. After one final assessment of her make-up Lily turned to face her friend, trying to ignore the nerves brewing in her stomach.

"Alright I'm Ready". With an exasperated ' _Finally_ ' Marlene Mckinnon got up from her seated position on the bed and headed towards the door. Lily followed and couldn't help feeling a small amount of jealousy about the way Marlene's silver robes, clung and fit perfectly to her athletic build or the way her skin glowed and blonde hair shined. With a shake of her head Lily cast off the feelings and focused instead on the chatter that was coming from her friend's mouth.

"…which is all fair enough but I really don't see why Mary couldn't come either, it's not like she can't just get a portkey from New York, and what's so special about some big ball dropping, it sounds ridiculous to me." Lily laughed at how put out Marlene was about their other friend's lack of attendance to tonight's party.

"She can't ' _just get a portkey_ ' her family are muggles remember, besides it is tradition for her to spend New Year's Eve in New York, you know that, why it's a surprise to you all of a sudden is beyond me." Was Lily's reply.

"You broke tradition, _you're_ coming!" Lily wasn't hurt or surprised by the way in which Marlene made this point, because she whole heartedly agreed with her shock at the acceptance of the invitation.

"Technically I didn't break tradition, my family broke tradition on me, and I'm only coming because I don't want people to find out about Mr Shreddy.' Lily looked pointedly over at Marlene for the last part but just earned a laugh in return and a mumbled comment on how a sixteen-year-old really shouldn't still sleep with a teddy. The two girls continued with their back and forth bantering and jibes until they reached the main living room of the house. Waiting by the grand fireplace stood the rest of the McKinnon's. The two youngest, Marcus and Malcom, identical twins and in their second year of Hogwarts were both tapping their feet impatiently, looking rather disgruntled in the dress robes they had been forced to wear. The mother of the family, Clara Mckinnon was looking radiant, the blonde hair from which her only daughter had inherited was sleek and long, her robes, a pale blue, seemed to emit a glow, that Lily thought must be due to some kind of spell.

"About time girls." Murdock Mckinnon was a short man with a rather fabulous moustache and beard that more than made up for the lack of hair on his head. "Mac's already head off, got bored of waiting for the two of you to 'prissy up'. I believe that was the term he used." Mac being the eldest of the McKinnnon clan was as handsome as his sister was pretty and had the sass to match. He had graduated Hogwarts two years previously and Lily was rather fond of his quick wit and carefree outlook.

"Right we all better head of snappish, we are already 20 minutes later than what is fashionable. Girls you go first." Exclaimed Clara, anxiously glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece. With a role of her eyes at Lily, Marlene gracefully stepped into the green flames and with a shout of their destination she vanished. Next it was Lily who slowly, and much less gracefully clambered over the fire guard and into the flames. The twist and turns of floo travel often made her uneasy so it was with as steady a voice she could muster that she shouted out…

"POTTER MANOR".

Lily had never been to a wizarding party outside of the school until now, and never a party with so much grandeur. As she fell onto the hearth and righted herself she thought for a bazar moment that instead of falling through a fire place, she had perhaps fallen into one of her favourite novels and landed herself in a Great Gatsby party. With a few blinks of her eyes she took in where she was, a grand ballroom, decorated with baroque detailing and the most marvellous fresco painting on the ceiling portraying the heavens that twinkled and moved like any other magical painting. The room was crowded with witches and wizards of all ages and sizes, but not only wizards, was that a centaur that just wandered past? And were her eyes playing tricks on her or had she just seen a leprechaun swing from a chandelier? 20's swing music was playing loudly over the chatter and laughter of the party goers and champagne towers were floating through the crowds, which no matter how much they were knocked into, never spilled a single drop. With a disbelieving laugh Lily rushed over to Marlene who was standing next to Christmas tree to rival the ones at Hogwarts.

"I can't believe it, this is _incredible_!" Lily cried over the music in awe. Marlene only laughed in response and whilst grabbing on to Lily's hand she started to pull her into the throng of dancers.

"Just you wait until the fireworks, by Merlin you will love them." Marlene shouted over her shoulder as the squeezed and slid between the crowd, Lily followed her friends suit and took a glass of champagne off the tray that floated past them. Marlene seemed to have spotted a friendly face, for Lily was yanked in a different direction towards what looked like an extravagant buffet and drinks table.

"Why am I not surprised to see you two here" Marlene said with a raised brow and a laugh. The two boys she addressed turned in unison, one had his hands laden with an obscene amount of chocolate truffles whilst the other had two freshly cracked open butterbeers.

"Stocking up for the long night ahead" Remus Lupin replied holding up his chocolate covered hands whilst Sirius Black gave Marlene a wink before turning and pointing a bottle at Lily.

"Merlin's saggy underpants, Lily Evans at a Potter Party, I must have been spiked because surely I'm not that drunk after one glass of champagne!" He joked before leaning in and hugging Lily who couldn't help but stiffen up as he did so. It's not that she didn't like Black, in fact since the beginning of term the pair had had a strange and irreversible bonding session over sibling fallouts, it's just that she hadn't realised that their acquaintanceship had reached the hugging level. She was much more relaxed however when Remus gave her a short and awkward hug, attempting to keep his sticky hands away from leaving marks upon her robes. Remus was her favourite out of the group of friends whom called themselves the 'Marauders', as he was much more well-mannered but also a fellow prefect with whom she'd spent many hours getting to know on patrols of the castle.

"You really want us to believe that you've only had one glass of champagne, the party's been in full swing for an hour by the looks of things" Scoffed Marlene as she downed her own glass champagne, following on by tugging the second beer out of Black's reluctant hand. "Speaking of the party, where is my young host of a cousin?" She said, craning her neck to look round the vicinity.

"Now now Marly, you know I'm not the host, just a humble party attendee like yourself." A voice said from behind them. The group turned in the direction of the voice to find none other than James Potter, looking the most well-kept and smartest that Lily had ever seen him in her life. The robes he wore were as black as his hair, which although had been attempted to have been brushed back, was slowly starting to rebel against, what Lily could only assume was a mass amount of hair product and enchantments. The dazzling smile that adorned his face turned into one of surprise when he saw that Lily was among the group he had just addressed, and whilst his eyes glistened playfully Lily could see that there was more unreadable emotion there too, in fact it seemed like he looked quite uncomfortable at her presence.

"Evans! Wow, you look… you look stunning" The words seemed to have slipped out on their own accord but the last part was lost on Lily as the sound of the arrival of Peter Pettigrew, who jostled his way through the crowd and into the little circle, drowned it out.

"Those bloody, thieving con artists, why the bloody hell did your parents invite leprechaun's again Prongs?" He called out looking extremely flustered and the only way Lily could think to describe it, pissed off. His explanation was followed by the sound of a leprechaun cackling as he flew overhead and dropping a load of galleons atop of Peter's head. Lily who had read up extensively on Irish wizardry took these coins to be fool's gold and laughed along with the rest of the group as Peter muttered angrily to himself and shook a fist at the place the little green man had disappeared from.

"I believe they became rather fond of a few of them on their recent trip to Ireland, Pete" Potter replied, he seemed to have gotten over or rather decidedly moved on from the surprise of Lily's presence and was back to his arrogant, confident self.

"Come on let's go in to the other room, where the crowds are less and the company is younger" Lily followed the rest of them and seemed to be the only one stunned by the proclamation of the 'other room'. At the front of progression Black was taking the micky out of his best mate.

"' _Evans... wow you look stunning_ '" he imitated, as James shoved his shoulder with an 'oh fuck off'.

The group laughed and joked with one and other, drinking the drinks in hand before taking more off the floating trays that they passed before crossing a very grand entrance hall and entered a much smaller but no less grand room that Lily took to be some kind of living room. Potter had been right when he said that this room was way less crowded and the party goers that had gathered here were all closer to her own age, many of them fellow Hogwarts students, whilst there was a handful she didn't recognise at all, though she got the distinct impression that they were French. Her hunch was confirmed as she watched Potter wander over to them, proclaiming loudly "Mes cousins, comment jouissez-vous de la fête?".

"James is French on his mother's side, those are his cousins." Remus stated in response to Lily's questioning gaze, who blushed at being caught staring.

"It's crazy I know, I came to my first one in second year and couldn't believe my eyes, and I'm from a wizarding background. Though I have to admit they are somehow getting rowdier and more extravagant with age." Lily appreciated Remus' friendly chatter, as Marlene had abandoned her to follow Black to a collection of crates on the far side of the room. "I am curious though, as I'm sure most the population of this room is as to what brought you to a Potter Party?" She could tell he was trying to act as casual as possible, but she could sense his nerves at asking the question. She understood his puzzlement as it was no secret that herself and James Potter were no best friends. She didn't, as many people believed, hate the boy, yet there was an air of arrogance and entitlement that had always bothered her about him. It hadn't helped that throughout the earlier years at Hogwarts he had insistently bullied her childhood friend, Severus Snape, and pulled many, harmless though annoying, pranks on her and just about most of the population of the school. She could see why it would be strange for her to be there, especially as the pair hadn't said a word to each other since the 'incident' at the end of the previous year, which had resulted in the ending of her friendship with said Severus Snape. Glancing over at the boy who had moved on from his cousins and was now laughing at what must be a funny story being told by the Prewett twins, Lily turned back to Remus to reply.

"Believe me Remus I'm just as shocked as you, but alas my dreadful sister threw the most dramatic fit over the idea of me being present around her new fiancé so here I am, an orphan being dragged to a party by her evil friend." She threw an arm in front of her brow with a dramatic flourish for added effect whilst Remus laughed at her antics.

"Merlin Lily, you can be so over dramatic I doubt you were dragged anywhere, no one would turn down a party invitation, not even you. And talking about dear Petunia I am shocked to hear of this Fiancé, how is it I'm only hearing of him now?" Black had returned, this time a firewhisky in hand and slightly tipsier. An arm was thrown haphazardly over Lily's shoulder which despite her efforts, would not be shrugged off. Potter had also come back over and seemed to look a bit disgruntled at the interaction between his friend and Lily.

"I didn't know you had a sister?" Lily, who had been busy trying to wriggle out of Blacks grasp stopped what she was doing and looked up into Potters quizzical face.

"Well how would you, you never asked." She responded in dry humour and just like that the cloud of tension that had been hanging in the air seemed to clear, and maybe it was the champagne taking its effect, or just the holiday spirit, but Lily felt relaxed for the first time in a long time around James Potter and his friends.

"I best go and say hello to the others." With a fleeting smile that Potter tentatively returned she headed off into the crowd, grabbing a glass or firewhisky on her way and leaving a perplexed but cheerful boy in her wake. Lily waved and returned hellos to fellow classmates as she passed, occasionally stopping for longer with those she was better acquainted with until she final found Marlene who seemed to be having an intense discussion with her eldest brother.

"…I'm nearly of age, what difference does a few months make, surely every little helps!"

"Yes, yes, every little does help but that doesn't change your age Mar, you're too young and whilst you're at Hogwarts there is very little you can do to be honest, not to mention Dumbledore just won't allow it!" Mac was sounding exasperated by the time Lily reached the pair.

"Am I interrupting?" She enquired sipping on the firewhisky which bloody hell was strong.

"Not at all, the conversation is over. How's your night going Lily?" Mac asked, looking relieved at the interruption and a chance for a change of topic. Marlene on the other hand wasn't having any of it.

"Yes, you were, and perfect timing, on a scale of one to ten how fed up are you of being treated like a child Lils, being told everything's just fine and dandy when anyone with eyes can tell it's not. What if I told you there was an organisation outside of Hogwarts that is standing up to the Death Eater movement? Would you want to join regardless of age?" Marlene spoke with fierce and precise authority despite the alcohol that had taken effect on her. As Mac spluttered on his drink at his sister's blatant lack of secrecy of the topic, Lily pushed through her own alcohol induced brain and reflected on the many Daily Prophet's that had disturbing and horrific headlines plastered over the front page. She relived the anger she felt, every time the stupid newspaper landed in front of her, anger at the injustice of it all.

"For fucks sake Marlene" Mac groaned at the same time Lily replied.

"Of course, I would join. I have more reason to hate those fuckers than most of the people fighting against them. After all I'm a ' _mudblood_ '". Whilst the others gasped and reprimanded her for the use of the word Lily felt a kind of vindictive pleasure in saying it. The word didn't offend her, it was the implication of it that did, and she had recently taken to responding to it in a similar manner to which their Headmaster, Dumbledore had spoken of Voldemort; fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself. If Lily feared the word 'mudblood' then those who tried to use it against her would win and she refused to give in to what they wanted. Mac, who looked thoroughly pissed off with his sister excused himself and slunk out of the room and back towards the ballroom.

"He's probably pissed off to go and suck up to some aurors" Marlene scoffed. Lily responded with a hum of agreement before following Marlene back into the crowd trying to shake the dark thoughts of war from her mind.

The night moved on, and the party became even wilder to the amazement of Lily, who thought it had reached its peak when Sirius had drunkenly flown his broomstick whilst pouring champagne into the open mouths of the crowd bellow, shouting out 'CHAMPAGNE SHOWERS' as he did so. It was nearing midnight when she found herself completely lost coming back from the toilet on the first floor. She wasn't even sure she was meant to be upstairs but the que for the toilet on the ground floor was too long for her drunken bladder to bare. She was cursing the stupidly large house for having too many hallways and rooms when she stumbled through a door that she was convinced would take her back to the main stairwell. Once again, she had taken a wrong door and had ended up in a smart looking office. Curiosity peaked, Lily moved further into the room examining a glass cabinet that stood proudly on the desk. Inside stood a Large purple vile with a label reading ' **Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and Scalp Treatment'** and in a fine print below that it read ' **Two drops tames even the most bothersome barnet**.'

"I thought I heard somebody thumping around in here." Lily spun round so fast she almost knocked a picture frame off the desk. In the doorway lent James Potter looking a lot more like his usual self with his hair finally back to its messy state, his shirt untucked and partially unbuttoned and his bow tie hanging loosely around his neck. "I just snuck of to my ensuite, the que downstairs is far too long." He stuck his thumb over his shoulder pointing it vaguely off in a direction. "I don't know if you've noticed but there's a party downstairs." Realising he was giving her a bit of an odd look, Lily spoke up.

"That's why I got lost, I came up to find a spare toilet and couldn't find my way back' she excused before glancing back at the cabinet and potion. "Did your dad invent Sleekeazy's" She questioned, laughing to herself as she looked back at Potters messy hair. "Is that what was taming it earlier" She hiccupped as another laugh came out, this time she was thinking of the potions slogan, tames the most bothersome barnets her ass. Potter grinned back at her, pushing himself off the door frame and walking further into the room.

"Yeah he did, there aren't many Fleamont Potter's believe it or not." This only encouraged Lily's giggles which James found to be infectious as he was soon laughing with her. Between gasps Lily managed to choke out

"Your dads name is Fleamont? I'm sorry I shouldn't laugh it's rude" but she couldn't help break into giggles again.

"Yeah he's aware of how ridiculous it is, my grandad was a bit of an eccentric. Mum calls him Monty for short, refuses to use his full name." Lily noticed that he was giving her that strange look again, but this time it was accompanied by a warm smile. Glancing at the clock behind Lily, James turned to leave the room.

"I would follow me unless you want to spend the New Year count down by yourself in a study." He called over his shoulder in a typical arrogant Potter manor, yet for reasons unknown to Lily she wasn't offended by his blunt and commanding voice, rather she found it quite funny and with another round of giggles she ran to catch up with him.

As it turned out finding the main staircase was much easier to find when accompanied by one of the hosts, and the two teens were soon among the many making their way outside onto the vast grounds of the house.

"Lily, James over here, Merlin we thought we'd lost you guys, look its nearly time." And Marlene was right as up in the dark sky, through falling snowflakes gigantic lights appeared in the shape of numbers.

TEN, NINE, EIGHT

Marlene had grabbed Lily's hand.

SEVEN, SIX, FIVE

Sirius had gathered them into a circle putting his arms round their shoulders.

FOUR, THREE, TWO

Lily was squeezed between Marlene and James, she didn't even care that his arms were around her shoulders, for hers were around his waist.

ONE

"HAPPY NEW YEAR" The crys and shouts of the party were deafening over the fireworks that were lighting the sky, and the circle she was enclosed in was jumping crazily whilst Black chanted '1977' over and over. The circle broke as Auld Lang Syne began to be sung by a large group of middle-aged wizards and soon Marlene was grabbing Lily's face in both hands and planting a kiss on her lips.

"Happy New Year" she squealed and Lily laughed giving her a squeeze as she returned the sentiment. She turned to find Black attempting to plant a kiss on Potter's face who was laughing, trying to back away from his overly affectionate friend. At Lily's laugh Black turned on her instead, enveloping her in a crushing hug he wished her a happy new year before rushing of to find Potter's parents. Lily hugged both Remus and Peter wishing them well before turning to Potter. He was standing awkwardly as though unsure whether or not to approach her but in her inebriated state Lily thought nothing of wrapping her arms round his neck.

"Happy New Year Potter." She whispered.

"Happy New Year Evans."


	2. Chapter 2: Trains and Carriages

She was never late. Ever. In fact, Lily Evans had an annoying habit of being on time, so much so that the one time she had found herself in a detention (which was definitely through no fault of her own) Professor Sprout actually rolled her eyes at the sight of the girl standing outside Greenhouse One at precisely 6pm. Yet here she was running and pushing through crowds of muggles who were taking their sodding time to move around Kings Cross Station. _Honestly,_ she thought _do they have to gather like lemmings in front of the train times?_ Thanking the gods from every religion that she had decided on a rucksack instead of her school trunk to take home for the Christmas holidays, she squeezed between a rather large man who reminded her of Vernon, her sisters fiancé, and what she presumed was his equally large wife, making it onto platforms 9 and 10 with just two minutes to spare. She barely battered an eye as she strolled through the barrier, vanishing from sight so rapidly a young girl passing by did a double take before shaking her head and running to catch with her mother. Lily materialised on the other side, rushing through the steam filled platform and past the waving parents, hopping through an open door just as the whistle blew and the train began to move. Taking a few deep breaths as she leant against the now closed door, Lily wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and pushed forward to find her friends. As it was the return from the Christmas holidays the train was no way near as packed as it was on September 1st but it still took Lily a good few minutes to locate the girls she was searching for.

"… and then just as we were leaving Cuthbert Macmillan was so drunk he climbed into the fire _before_ he'd put the floo powder in." Marlene finished whilst both Mary and Dorcas laughed at the story.

"I'm so jealous I couldn't come, but mums just so ill I couldn't leave her." Dorcas Meadows, a short brown girl with wavy hair, looked wistfully out the window, probably imagining herself at the party that Marlene was describing so vividly.

"Me too, I'd love to experience at least one, but I have to admit seeing the ball drop never gets old." Mary sighed, lost for a moment in the memories of her own New Year celebrations. The inhabitants of the compartment all turned to see Lily slide in, drop her bag and begin to remove her coat and jumper.

"Lil, babes, we've told you about doing exercise, it really isn't your forte." Marlene joked as the girls took in Lily's red and shiny complexion. As Lily stuck up her middle finger at Marlene, Mary spoke up.

"We thought you were going to miss the train, what kept you?" she asked, moving over and picking up her cat to make room for Lily to sit down.

"My parents were out so Petunia had to drop me off at the station, which she made such a fuss over so we were late leaving. I swear she did it on purpose." Lily huffed and slid down into a slouching position on the chair, propping her feet up on the one opposite.

"So how was New Years at the Potter's for you Lily?" enquired Dorcas, unsuccessfully trying to swot the other girls hand away as she reached for a chocolate frog. Tossing aside her 5th Urg the Unclean card, Lily replied with a mouthful of chocolate.

"It was actually rather enjoyable, but nothing too major to report back." She reached for another piece of chocolate, this time from Marlene's stash but was unlucky as the girl managed to successfully defend her chocolate from Lily's thieving hands.

"Come off it Lily, nothing to report back my ass." She exclaimed loudly before turning to the others. "Lily and James were actually getting on, not only were they talking for the first time since fifth year, the little liar was giggling and flirting with him like a besotted third year!" Whilst the other girls grinned knowingly at each other Lily sat spluttering, pulling herself into more of a seated position as she tried to defend herself.

"I was _not_ flirting with him like a besotted third year, how dare you imply such a thing" she cried indignantly looking thoroughly appalled at Marlene. Marlene stared at Lily with a pointed look before turning doe eyed and wrapping her arms around an imaginary person.

" _Happy New Year Potter_ " she said in a sultry voice that Lily hoped would never come out of her own mouth. Dorcas and Mary laughed, egging on Marlene whilst Lily sat in the corner trying to control her temper.

"Come off it! You are twisting the situation; besides I doubt you are a reliable source, you were so drunk you could barely walk straight! Black had to hold back your hair whilst you threw up if I remember correctly." Lily finished triumphantly, watching Marlene scowl as the laughs turned on her.

"That I did, and I have to admit McKinnon, it wasn't your best look." The girls looked up at the newest arrival. Black leant against the entrance to the compartment a smirk dancing across his features and Lily hated to admit it but he did look rather handsome with his hair pulled back in a rough bun, the tip of his wand visible from where he had poked it through. Lily didn't miss the blush that spread across her friend's face, and she smugly relished in her discomfort. Behind Black, stood the rest of the gang, and Lily had to admit she felt rather awkward seeing Potter without the liquid courage of firewhisky. As he smiled at her it was Lily's turn to squirm in discomfort. Just because they had been civil towards one and other for a single night didn't make them friends, did it? Lily started to cringe at the memories of New Year that she had successfully placed in the back of her head until now, when she couldn't ignore them any longer. After she did not return his smile, Potter seemed to look rather put out, as he excused himself, Peter following in tow. Black watched them leave and with a roll of his eyes he bid the girls a safe journey and followed his friends. It was Remus who stayed, reminding Lily that they had promised to do the first patrol of the train ride. Reluctant to leave her friends to gossip without her, Lily stole one last chocolate frog, much to the displeasure of Dorcas, and followed the lanky boy out into the corridor. Now that she looked at him properly, she noticed that her friend didn't look very well. His skin was pale and there were small but noticeable bags forming under his eyes.

"Are you feeling alright Remus?" she asked as they set off to the far end of the train.

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about Lily, just a common cold, the alcohol from new year probably hasn't helped my immune system much." He joked, but avoided making eye contact as she stared up at him. Before Lily had much time to question him more on his failing health though he had changed the conversation with an air of finality that left Lily feeling confused. For the most part, their patrol went by smoothly and amicably, with the exception of the time that Remus, like Marlene tried to pry about Potter.

"If you won't tell me why you're really ill, I'm not going to discuss Potter." Was her smug response, and that was the end of that. It honestly baffled her how much they were all reading into things. And so, they continued, instead choosing to discuss whether or not McGonagall was trying to kill them through homework.

Lily's feet were aching and her stomach was starting to rumble as the end of patrols came in to sight. After passing the responsibility on to the next prefects, Remus and herself had bid each other goodbye and headed in separate directions back to their respective compartments. Yet as Lily fantasized about chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties it seemed fate had other ideas in mind. The compartment she was about to pass had the door flung open so violently that Lily jumped back and pulled out her wand in shock. A boy no older than fourteen had been pushed out of the compartment and was now in a crumpled pile on the floor.

"So, I'll say it again, maybe you should go and suggest to dear young brother that he stops wasting his time on filthy mudbloods, perhaps remind him of the Sacred 28?" A voice stated menacingly from within the compartment and with that being said the boy scrambled off the floor and pushing past Lily as he hurried away.

"Did I Interrupt something?" She said with raised eyebrows. People often thought Lily Evans had more balls than brains, but those people didn't know her very well. It wasn't that she lacked the brains, it was that she was so confident in her abilities that she rarely shied away from altercations, especially if it involved bullying. The compartment she stood before held an odd selection of students, the majority of whom were Slytherin. Evan Rosier, a boy of large build with a menacing sneer that never seemed to leave his face, was standing at the forefront of the compartment, having clearly been the culprit who had just thrown the younger boy to the floor. Yet it was Fawley, an intimidating seventh year that had been doing the talking.

"Piss off Mudblood. It's nothing that concerns your dirty blood." He sneered at her, the other's in the compartment jeered along with him.

"Actually, as a prefect, the mistreatment of other students does concern me, so that'll be 10 points from Slytherin for that, and another 5 for foul language." She came across to anyone watching (and in true Hogwarts fashion, quite a small crowd had formed) cool and collected, her posture and defiant expression emitting authority. Most students would cower under the glare of Lily Evans, anyone who had seen James Potter end up on the wrong end of her wand knew she was a talented witch. But for the Slytherin's she was opposing, their narrow mindedness on what made a good witch or wizard gave them a false sense of entitlement. Fawley stood, pushing past Rosier, so that he was standing intimidatingly tall over Lily.

"If you think we care about house points, then you're more stupid than your dirty blood suggests. I'll say it again, _Piss off."_

"Now, Now, Fawley, that really is no way to talk to a lady. Perhaps you should wash out your mouth." Fawley turned to see the new arrivals, frowning as he stared into the tip of Potter's wand which was directed at his face. It seems that whilst one Gryffindor was no match for his company, a handful of them wasn't worth his time, so with nothing more to say Fawley slunk back into the compartment, shutting the door and blinds as he went.

"Alright you lot, clear off, surely there are more entertaining things you could be doing with your time." Black shouted, waving his hands at the lurking students. Potter lowered his wand and tucked it into his robe pocket, before rubbing a hand threw his hair. The action reminded Lily of the pairs interaction in his father's office, but she was quick to shake that from her mind as her temper flared.

"What was that?" She rounded on Potter, Blacks attempts to banish the crowd were rendering useless at the sign of a new quarrel. For many of the onlookers, it was the first time they had seen the pair interact since the infamous blow out by the lake the previous summer. Lily could feel the irritation she'd been holding onto for most of the morning spilling out, with very little she could do about it. After all it should be common knowledge to avoid angering a hungry girl. Potter looked thoroughly aghast at Lily's outburst but soon regained his usual composure.

"What do you mean, _what was that_? I was trying to help, I don't know if you realised but you were quite out numbered." Again, his hand was playing with his stupid hair, and she had the urge to stride up to him and rip it away.

"I was not! I was handling it perfectly fine on my own thank you very much, I don't need you and your pureblood status coming in to save the day." She knew when she said it that she'd crossed the line, but she was so fed up with being underestimated, it was the last straw having a fellow housemate be the condescending one. Potter stood spluttering over his words in apparent disbelief.

"What… I would never… How could you even… You know what you are completely insufferable sometimes Evans, you know that?" Was all he could seem to say. The pair glared at each other in silence, Lily stubbornly stood with her arms crossed whilst Potter's complexion was rather patchy as he tried to keep his anger under control. To the surprise of the onlookers, Lily walked right up to him and looked him dead in the eye before saying slowly.

"Get out of my way."

"Or what, are you going to dock points off me to?" It was a below the belt jibe, and the boy smirked at having got in the last word, for Lily had pushed past him and stalked off down the corridor. When she was out of sight though the smirk slid from his face as he let out an exasperated sigh. Sirius walked over to him and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"What the fuck was that?" Sirius shook his head with a snort of laughter. James who was already cursing the lack of control he had over his temper, shrugged his friend's hand off his shoulder.

"On a scale of one to ten: ways to get into Evans' good books, that was a zero." Chipped in Peter, who had been standing watching from the side lines. As James strode off back to their compartment, Sirius gave Peter a _shut the fuck up_ look and shove of a shoulder before they followed their friend in silence.

Over at the opposite end of the Hogwarts Express, the girls in the last compartment were enjoying an intense and rowdy game of exploding snap, when their friend came storming in for the second time that journey. In a much fouler mood than when she had left them earlier, Lily didn't wait for Mary to move her cat before she shoved it aside and plonked herself down. After Mary had consoled the hissing tabby, she faced Lily with a sympathetic;

"What happened?" The others, used to Lily's over dramatic, and easily flared bad temper, looked on expectantly. No one commented as Lily grabbed a pumpkin pasty from the selection of treats purchased from the trolley and sat nibbling it, looking less disgruntled with each bite.

"Potter" was all she said. Marlene rolled her eyes and lent back, whilst Dorcas let out a knowing sigh. It was Mary who gently pat Lily's leg in a consoling manor.

"What's the idiot done this time?" Dorcas pondered, and whilst the girls within the compartment were aware that it wasn't always James who started the fights, it was within their girl code to be on Lily's

side when possible. They sat patiently as Lily told retold the events of her patrols, rolling their eyes at her over dramatic description of her dying hunger, and acting appropriately outraged when she told them of her interaction with the Slytherin's. When she finished with her quarrel with Potter though, they all sat in an awkward silence. Lily looked at them expectantly, waiting for the shared outrage in his behaviour.

"Well…" Dorcas started looking at Marlene and then back to Lily. "I don't want put feelings on you, but it sounds like you were more annoyed at the Slytherin's and perhaps took it out on James?" She trailed off slightly at the look Lily gave her.

"Perhaps to start with, but were you not listening, he called me insufferable! And then continued on by undermining my authority… In front of younger students!" Lily was perplexed as to how her friends were not grasping the situation at hand, and was becoming increasingly grumpier each time they reprimanded her. _They're meant to be my friends not Potter's_ she thought childishly to herself.

"He isn't entirely wrong, you can be quite stubborn Lily. And if you maybe tried to see it from his point of view, after the two of you got on fine at New Year, he probably didn't think you'd mind if he stepped in." Marlene tried to reason. "You know he'd do the same for any of us." Lily glowered at her friend for taking her cousin's side over hers, but like Marlene had a knack for doing, she'd managed to get through to Lily. As she slumped back and looked out the window at the passing countryside, she couldn't help feeling a little guilty at the way she acted. And Marlene was right, Potter would do the same for any of his friends, his loyalty, though she hated to admit it, was one of his best qualities. After a little while, when the conversation had flared up between the other's Lily whispered so quietly that the others thought they had imagined it

"Maybe you're right." Marlene and Dorcas shared a smirk whilst Mary had fully turned in her seat to face Lily looking taken aback.

"I'm sorry come again?" Marlene said with an even wider smirk.

"I said, maybe you're right" Lily said a little louder, avoiding eye contact with her friends who were laughing amongst themselves for it was a rare occasion that Lily admitted she was wrong.

"Right about what?" Marlene was milking the situation for what it was worth, giddily sliding to the end of her seat.

"About Potter, and bugger off Marlene I admitted I was wrong, don't make me take it back." Lily whined with a pout as her friends laughed at her. For the remainder of the journey, the topic of Slytherin's and Potter were left untouched as the girls gossiped and caught up with the rest of their Holiday stories.

The night was dark and the air bitterly cold as the students of Hogwarts exited the warmth of the train. Trudging their way down the snowy track towards the carriages that would lead them to the school, they bent their heads and pulled up their scarves at attempts to stay as warm as possible. Lily who was already dreaming of a nice yummy chicken pot pie was about to climb into the carriage after her friends before she was pushed to one side. Looking up at the culprit whilst she steadied herself from a fall, Lily was met with the smirk of Black as he pulled Remus into the carriage behind him.

"Sorry Evans, this one is full." He laughed as the carriage pulled away, heading off up the track. Glaring at the retreating carriage Lily spun around to climb into the next one along and with how badly her day had turned out so far, she wasn't even surprised to find Potter and Peter were the inhabitants. Torn between the desire to just get up to the school already, or to avoid Potter, Lily finally decided that risking missing out on the first choice of food wasn't worth waiting, regardless who her carriage companions were. Grumbling incoherently to herself, Lily pulled her way up into the carriage, choosing to slide across so that she was opposite Peter over Potter. She was aware of her own pettiness, but as she was feeling particularly hard done by and fed up, she couldn't bring herself to care. An awkward silence settled over the trio, broken by Peter once the carriage began to move.

"Actually, I've forgotten something" he said, the lie blatantly obvious, but before Lily could say or do anything Peter had jumped out of the moving carriage. Staring dumbstruck at the space the boy had vanished, Lily turned to face Potter who she had unwillingly been left alone with. The boy had the same confused shock written over his face and it was with a cautious glance that he met Lily's eyes.

"Well then…" was all he seemed to be able to come up with and Lily had the impression that whilst he looked just as awkward as she felt, he was definitely finding their situation more amusing than she was. He continued to stare at her, making Lil feel rather uncomfortable as he did. She shifted in her seat trying to avoid his gaze, choosing instead to look out at the snowflakes that had started to fall.

"I think their plan was for us to have to talk to each other" He spoke again, keeping his voice light hearted and she could tell he was trying to make light of the situation. Her eyes flicked back towards him, the tension of their argument on the train was still fresh for her and despite Marlene's words, she couldn't quite bring herself to say anything to him. As she resumed her stare at the nights sky Lily heard him sigh, take deep breath and then for the third time James Potter spoke.

"Look I've actually wanted to speak to you alone for a long time, so while your trapped with me I'm just going to say it." Lily continued to stare out the window, too nervous to face the boy.

"I'm sorry." He started. "I'm sorry about how I've acted in the past, and all the times I immaturely took my frustration out on those who didn't deserve it. But mostly I'm sorry for what happened last year, and I'm embarrassed by how I acted. I was stupid and arrogant, and I know you think I still am but that day has played on my mind so bloody much Evans and I've really been trying to be a better person. I'm not expecting you to forgive me but I had to let you know that I really, truly am sorry." Lily sat, awkwardly bringing her gaze down to look at her fiddling hands before looking back towards Potter. There was something about the look he was giving her, an unreadable but undeniably strong emotion burned in his eyes, his mouth pressed in a thin line, brows furrowed anxiously as he waited for her reply. As She stared at him, Lily lost herself in the feeling that she had felt in the aftermath of the fight. The anger with not just Potter but Severus as well, the grief of the inevitable split between the two friends and the self-doubt that followed. And whilst she had harboured onto her distaste for Potter in the months past, it dawned on Lily that perhaps just as she had done on the train, maybe, just maybe, she had used Potter as a scapegoat for her feelings, instead of confronting the real issue.

"I forgive you." She whispered, feeling a weight that she had been unware of lift off her shoulders. It felt good, she realised, to finally confront what had happened between the two of them and the look of relief that crossed Potters face made her smile.

"I owe you an apology too." Potter looked confused at her statement but before he could question it she continued. "I was wrong to argue with you on the train, and I'm sorry, especially for the blood status comment, that was low and quite frankly hypocritical. You were only trying to help." A blush crossed her cheeks at the smile he gave, which wasn't his usual cocky grin, but a warm and sincere one.

"I forgive you." he mimicked back at her and she gave a small laugh. She began to feel, in his company, as she had at the party, comfortable and light-hearted.

"Would it be bold of me" He began, as the lights of the castle spilled into their carriage. "To ask if we could be friends?"

Lily considered his playful grin.

"I don't think that would be too bold." Her grin matching his.

"So, friends?"

"Friends."


	3. Chapter 3: Frogspawn and Pumpkin Juice

Being friends with James Sodding Potter was bloody impossible, Lily decided as she stormed past a group of giggling first years, shaking a gloop of frogspawn that was still somehow attached to her hand, onto the floor. How had she ever convinced herself that it was in any way a sane thing to do, accepting his friendship? Was she barking mad? ' _Would it be to bold of me to ask_?' Yes. Yes it would Potter. Okay, so maybe she was overreacting a touch, but what kind of _friend_ thinks it would be funny to launch an entire tub of frogspawn across the potions classroom. Not a good friend thats for sure. And Sirius and Peter just thought it was so hilarious, as she had stood humiliated in front of the entire class, dripping in stinking slime. Reaching her dorm, Lily wasted no time beelining straight for the bathroom, ignoring Mary (who luckily managed to avoid taking potions and had a free period) and slammed the door shut. It was only when she had used up her entire bottle shampoo, and most of Dorcas' soap, that Lily finally emerged from the bathroom, firmly wrapped in a fluffy towel, feeling clean and much less disgruntled.

'Please just kill me.' Lily sighed as she flopped onto her bed, arm dramatically flung over her brow.

'I'm not sure if I want to know what an earth happened to you, but lets just say I'm glad I didn't take potions this year if it requires you to wear the ingredients.' Mary replied without so much looking up from the magazine she was pondering.

'Yes, well fortunately for the majority of the class, they weren't bonkers enough to call themselves friends with Potter, therefore they all avoided the embarrassment that comes with that title.' Mary stayed quiet for a moment before finally turning her attention from her article to Lily, who was now perched on the end of her bed.

'I've always found that being friends with James usually tends to achieve the opposite result , call it immunity if you will. Besides I'm struggling to find a logical reason as to why he would sabotage his newfound friendship with you?' Mary cocked her head to one side, trying to catch Lily's eye.

'He "tripped" apparently. On air.' With a roll of her eyes Lily stood to dress herself in a fresh uniform. Unfortunately potions was the period before lunch that Friday, so as much as she didn't want to, she still had a class to attend. The only perk of this was that it was Arithmacy, a Potter free lesson, meaning that Lily stood a good chance at avoiding the boy for the rest of the day.

'Hey girls." The two occupants of the room looked up at the arrival of Marlene.

'Whats your excuse for ditching potions?' Lily enquired, doing up the last buttons of her blouse and straightening her tie.

'I just _had_ to gossip with someone and I couldn't do it with Dorcas because she was on the other side of the room flirting with Jeremy Stunt and who am I to interrupt that. Besides there were fifteen minutes left, I just told Sluggy that I wasn't feeling well.'

Ignoring the slightly outraged looks from the other girls, Marlene made herself comfortable on the end of Mary's bed.

'That is the most ridiculous reason to skip a lesson Marlene Mckinnon!' Lily exclaimed as she squeezed herself onto the little remaining space of mattress. ' We have lunch in ten minutes, couldn't you wait until then.' she finished with what she hoped was a stern look.

'No I couldn't because you won't be alone at lunch and he's going to try and talk to you, which lets be honest is probably going to backfire so I wanted to get to you first. Now listen up.' With a shake of her head and a 'go on then' Lily lent back against the head board waiting to hear this oh so important news.

'Okay, so after you'd stormed out of the classroom and the laughter died down, 'cause I'm sorry Lils it was kind of funny, James was fuming, honestly the way he rounded on Sirius and Peter, I mean I was scared for them.'

'But why would he round on those two if he tripped? Yeah they were laughing but so was everyone else?' Lily interrupted.

'Unless…' Mary chipped in, sitting up straighter.

'No, no, no I'm telling the story McDonald, pipe down.' Marlene flapped her hand in the other girls direction before continuing on.

'So James was all 'you idiot' and Sirius was all ' I don't know James, your the one who looks like an idiot.' and then James sort of lunged at him and said a few choice words which I will not bestow on your innocent ears. James then says 'Why would you do that' which I think is bizarre because he's the one that tripped, but then it dawned on me, James didn't _trip_.' she finished this statement as if she had dropped a massive bombshell on the girls.

'What do you mean he didn't trip, of course he tripped.' Lily exclaimed. Marlene gave and exasperated 'gah' and threw her hands up in the air.

'Merlin Lily, you're meant to be the bright one. Yes he 'tripped', but he didn't _trip_.' Marlene rolled her eyes as Lily only stared blankly back at her.

'It was a jinx Lily, Merlin, Sirius sent James a tripping jinx, hence why the whole frogspawn down the face incident even occurred in the first place. Sirius' defence was that he didn't realise that frogspawn would fly that far across the room, apparently you were just 'in the way' as he put it.'

'In the way, In the WAY. He shouldn't of even been jinxing people in the first place. I should give him detention, in fact, I think I will.' Lily stood up, ready to storm down to the great hall and give Black a piece of her mind. _In the way_ , how dare the insufferable, immature toe rag even say that, in the way indeed, she'd make him _in the way._

'Too late for that Lily, Slughorns beaten you to it, gave James and Sirius detention tonight for 'aggression and foul language'. So anyway thats why I wanted to get to you first, before you went all batshit crazy on James, because really it's not his fault, and you guys have been doing so well.'

Lily thought back to all the laughs in the common room, the study sessions in the library and the banter over dinner. Marlene was right, Potter and her had been getting on well over the past few weeks, it had been a refreshing change to the usual dynamic. Was she really ready to backtrack after one accident? Everyone would be expecting her to, she was sure of it, why else would Marlene rush to straighten things out? She remembered the flash of panic that crossed his face when he had seen where the frogspawn had landed, he was waiting for her to lash out at him, and why wouldn't he, that was their thing, he did something stupid and she would shout. Well not today, she thought stubbornly, today she was going to prove them all wrong.

'Look I'm not going to go 'batshit crazy' on him okay, it was just and accident, I mean the spawn could have landed on anyone.' Lily said as she reached for her book bag and cloak ignoring the surprised looks on her friends faces.

'That's very mature of you letting them off the hook Lily.' Mary patted Lily on the shoulder as she passed through the door and out onto the stairwell, Marlene following, nodding in agreement.

'Oh I'm not letting _them_ off the hook, just Potter. Sirius on the other hand, I'll get him back.' She said smugly as they crossed the common room and climbed through the portrait hole.

The journey down to lunch consisted of the girls coming up with elaborate and quite frankly ridiculous ways to get back at Sirius, and it came as a shock to the Marauders, who were expecting glaring daggers, to see the group of girls entering the Great Hall in fits of giggles. As Marlene and Mary made their way past the Marauders to Dorcas, Lily was sprung with a burst of inspiration. She could see out of the corner of her eye the wary look she was receiving from Potter and Remus, she could see how Potter made to get out of his seat and the way Remus put a restraining hand on his arm. Black however was blissfully unaware, back to her and shovelling his lunch into his fat mouth. She knew this was her chance. With a quiet 's'cuse me' to bunch of third years, she leant over and picked up the fullest jug of pumpkin juice she could find. She then strolled down the length of the table and just as she came to the Marauders she upturned the contents of the jug over Blacks head. With a clattering of cutlery and a 'what the fuck' Sirius spun in his chair to see who had just dowsed him in the sticky liquid.

'Oh sorry Black, you were just… _in the way_.' Lily said in a sickly sweet voice, a giant fake smile plastered on her face, and with a quick wink in the others direction she sauntered off to her friends who were rolling around with laughter along with the majority of the Gryffindor table. Only when she was sat down and helping herself to a jacket potato did she dare a glance back to the boys. Peter was mock reenacting the incident whilst Remus laughed on at Sirius' disgruntled attempt at cleaning himself up. Potter however was looking right at her with a bemused expression on his face. Before she could stop herself Lily sent him a little wave, with a bright smile, and the warm feeling she got when he sent a thumbs up in return stayed with her for the rest of lunch.

With the luncheon hour coming to an end, the group of girls, who had had quite the entertaining time taking the micky out of Sirius, went their separate ways to their respective afternoon classes. Giving Dorcas a final 'see you later' as her friend took the staircase to the divination tower, Lily continued on her own down the corridor that would take her to Arithmacy. She arrived early, the classroom still locked from the lunch break, so Lily leant back against the wall opposite and waited for her classmates to join her. Remus was the first to arrive, and her only friend in this particular class.

'I have to say Lily, that was quite the lunch time entertainment, thank you.' Remus greeted her with a mock bow earning an eye roll and a laugh in return.

'He had it coming, although I have to ask, should I be expecting retaliation anytime soon, if so I'd appreciate some fair warning.' Lily asked, half jokingly, half serious. It had occurred to her that Sirius may attempt to get her back when half way through lunch she had caught him glaring at her from across the table.

'Nah, you're good, deep down he knows he deserved it, although I wouldn't be surprised if he gave you the silent treatment for a while, I think you bruised his ego, especially with Emily Lockwood laughing at him.' Emily Lockwood was a popular 7th year, and it wasn't a surprise to hear that this would cause Sirius embarrassment, as she had captured the hearts of most of the upperclassmen boys with her curvaceous figure and pretty face.

'Well that boy needed to be knocked down a peg or two, so I'm glad I could be of assistance' Lily laughed as Remus nodded in agreement with a snigger of his own.

'However, more surprising than you dumping a jug of pumpkin juice on our friends head, you didn't shout at James?' _Well he doesn't beat around the bush_ Lily thought to herself, avoiding Remus' questioning stare and instead focusing on the arrival of the professor and making her way to her assigned seat. Remus sat himself down next to her but instead of following suit and taking his parchment and books out he just continued to stare, waiting for an answer.

'What, no comment?' he pushed, giving her a cheeky grin. Lily who was busying herself flipping through the pages of her textbook trying to find the one her professor had written on the blackboard, replied as nonchalant as she could manage.

'I had every intention of giving him a piece of my mind, but after Marlene made it clear that it was an accident on his part, there really wasn't any reason to.' She smoothed out the binding of her book and began diligently taking notes on the topic assigned. 'And anyway…' she continued before Remus could begin to respond. 'I don't see why your bringing it up, do you want me to shout at him, surely he's happy that I didn't so can't we leave it at that.' It made Lily feel awkward when her friends pressed the topic of Potter, she wasn't sure why but she always felt more comfortable when the conversation moved on.

'Oh he's happy alright, counting himself right lucky, dodged a spell there. We were all just a little surprised that's all, it wasn't the reaction we were anticipating. Honestly the glare you gave him in potions. I was scared for my life let alone his.' Remus joked, finally following Lily's suit and beginning the class assignment. Before Lily was able to reply though, she heard a stern 'Mr Lupin, Miss Evans, lunch break is over and therefore your conversations must be over, now please take notes from page 74. In silence.'

'And don't think I missed that little wave and thumbs up interaction Lily Evans.' Remus whispered as he turned back to his parchment. The flush that spread across Lily's face had little to do with being reprimanded by a professor.

After that the class dragged on at an annoyingly slow pace, as if it knew the students within were eager to begin their weekend. Lily always found it hard to concentrate in this particular period, with it being late January the night came crawling in early, and the dark sky and candle lit classroom always made her feel drowsy. When the bell rang she was the first to stuff her work books back in her bag and practically raced out of the classroom. She wouldn't admit it but she was hoping to get a head start on Remus, with the aim of avoiding more Potter talk, but it was to no avail, as his long legs easily caught up with her. Thankfully he seemed to have gotten bored of their earlier topic and instead made idle chit chat about what he hoped was for dinner. The lazy chatter continued until they were all the way back at the common room.

'Circe is not one of the best chocolate frog cards Lily, I'm sorry but we are going to have to disagree. ' Remus said with an exasperated sigh as he held the portrait open for her to climb through. The warmth of the common room flooded through her as they made their way to the usual sofas by the fire.

'Maybe not but I like her method, turning sailors into pigs, it's got a nice touch, I'm inspired.' Lily joked as she plopped down in a plush armchair and kicked off her shoes.

'Hey Evans can I have a word?' It was Potter, he'd loosened his tie and his shirt was untucked, the top few buttons undone. Another New Years flash back came to her, of him stood in the doorway to his father office, roguish grin on his face and in a similar state of dress. The Potter in front of her now was looking uncharacteristically awkward, shifting from foot to foot, she noticed his jaw clenching. Remus excused himself, leaving the two alone by the fire place, Lily in the armchair and Potter stood uncomfortably behind the back of the sofa. Lily gave a nod towards the sofa, and watched as he sat down, leaning forward so he was resting his arms on his knees, leaning towards her with a serious look on his face.

'So about earlier, look, I'm really sorry.' He started.

'Oh, Potter honestly, it really doesn't matter…' Lily cut in, trying to assure the agitated boy in front of her.

'No it does matter, I'm so mad at him for it and I'm sorry that you got in the way of him being a git.' Potter continued on, his jaw clenching again in a way that was becoming very distracting to Lily. 'I just don't want you to have that opinion of me you know, I don't pull those kind of stunts anymore.' In that moment it hit her just how much Potter was trying to prove to Lily that he'd changed, that he wanted this friendship to work. She experienced a brief flicker of self-loathing, how must she have come across to him and others over the years for him to be so ready for her to pull the plug and call it quits over one mistake. Then she remembered how she had felt earlier, when she had done just that and questioned the friendship before she even knew the truth of the situation. Lily found she was quite embarrassed of herself and was all of a sudden very desperate to assure Potter that they were fine.

'It was an accident, really I'm not mad at you, it wasn't even your fault for God's sake' she said with a chuckle. 'If I'm annoyed at anyone it's Sirius for being a massive prat, but hey what else is new. Seriously James, we're good.' She hadn't even realised she'd said it until she saw him pull back slightly a flicker of shock, before a cosmic grin crossed his face. _Oh bloody hell Lily,_ she thought. She half expected him to comment on it, but apparently James Potter was full of surprises recently as instead he chose to gloss over the use of his first name.

'Well I think you got Sirius back alright.' he said with a chuckle, running his hands through his hair. ' He's going to be sour about that for days, honestly you got him good, it takes a lot to embarrass that kid. I'm just glad I wasn't on the receiving end of that one.' He laughed again, and Lily joined him.

'Oh don't, I'm kind of embarrassed myself, It was pure impulse I swear and so immature.' Lily buried her head in her hands in mock despair.

'Don't be it was brilliant, I was truly inspired.' he put a hand on his heart beaming like a proud teacher. 'And the comment, wow that really topped it off, slightly petty but it worked.' Lily let out a giggle and whilst Potter had his usual roguish grin back.

'James, we have detention.' _Speak of the Devil_ Lily thought as Sirius descended the dorm stairs and stood behind the sofa that James resided.

'Ah Sirius, you're looking lovely and clean' Lily said sweetly as James let out a snort of laughter.

'Bugger off Evans' Sirius grumbled as he turned back to James. 'Come on Prongs hurry up, I want to get this over with.' and with that he turned round and began his way to the portrait hole. James shook his head and with a 'see you around Lily' he followed his friend to detention. Lily smiled in the direction that the two boys had left and couldn't help but think to herself that maybe being friends with _James Sodding Potter_ wasn't that impossible after all.


End file.
